Regional trade in South Asia has remained the least integrated in the world and has not improved much over decades due to the narrow and non-cooperative political economic approach in the region, experts viewed at a webinar on Friday.
South Asia regional trade has remained 5 per cent in the last 30 years while South East Asia regional trade has reached 25 per cent and European Union trade reached 20 per cent, they observed.
The experts also opined that the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation might complement the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) to some extent, but a rejuvenated SAARC could play a vital role in regional integration.
Speakers at the webinar also made a call to rejuvenate SAARC for regional integration.
The Asia Foundation organised the thematic webinar on "BIMSTEC and the Future of Regional Cooperation in South Asia".
Executive Director of South Asian Network on Economic Modeling (SANEM) Dr Selim Raihan said recent rail, road and different types of connectivity between India and Bangladesh may not be sustainable if both the countries are not politically well connected and good governance persists.
He said SAARC has made tremendous progress during the period of early nineties and 2004-05.
He also said free trade agreement discussions are going on at various levels in the region but the countries want FTA with liberalising the economy.
Mr Raihan said weaker economies in the region may be benefited from FTA among themselves. He added FTA will increase foreign direct investment in the region.
Executive Director of South Asia Watch on Trade, Economics and Environment (SAWTEE) Dr Paras Kharel said if BIMSTEC only cares about ports then it significantly decreases value for Nepal.
He questioned if BIMSTEC is adding any value to existing bilateral trades for countries like Nepal.
He said certain political economic factors must be resolved before initiatives like SAARC or BIMSTEC to get success.
Mr Kharel said equality, mutual respect and non-interference should be practised in bilateral ties.
Executive Director of The Regional Centre for Strategic Studies (RCSS) Dr George H Cooke stressed the need of prioritising neighbourhood first for larger engagement.
"We got to realise that this is for our best benefits," he added.
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